Ema – 絵馬

Ema (絵馬) are small shinto traditional plaques that are usually located below sacred trees in Japanese shrines. When you go to a shrine you buy an ema, you write your wishes and hopes into it and they you hang it together with the other emas. Emas are near the gods, so they can read them and make your dreams come true. When people goes to shinto shrines they go to “ask for wishes” more than “praying” like we are used to see in other religions.